1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to drinking vessels in general, and more particularly, to drinking vessels, such as wine glasses that include sensory enhancing features that enhance a user's taste sensation and taste perception.
2. Background Information
An individual's perception of taste is a combination of physiological and psychological responses to food and drink stimuli.
Flavor is the sensation realized when a food or beverage is placed in the mouth. The overall sensation of flavor is the result of a combination of responses to receptors present on the tongue, in the mouth, throat and nose. These sensory receptors produce signals in the nervous system and enable us to differentiate between products and environments in sensory terms.
When food or beverages enter the mouth, they contact gustatory receptors on the tongue and palate. The sensations produced are sweet, salty, sour, or bitter. At the same time, volatiles from the foods and beverages rise through the oral and nasal cavities and ultimately reach the olfactory receptors located just under the eyes. That is, while we eat, we both taste and smell foods. We call the composite sensation “flavor”, which we perceptually attribute to occur in the location of the mouth.
It is believed that this ‘localization’ is produced by the sense of touch. Taste sensations are not localized to the location of taste buds, but rather to areas touched in the mouth. Thus during drinking and eating, taste sensations seem to originate from the entire mouth, even though the taste buds are found only on certain loci. This occurs because the brain uses the sense of touch to localize taste sensations. Touch is critical to the taste process and the tongue is at the center of the ‘touch-taste’ equation.
Lawless and Stevens (1988) showed there are differential responsiveness to stimuli within the mouth, with the tongue tip being most sensitive, followed by the lip-tongue side, the posterior palate, the posterior tongue, the anterior palate, and then the is cheek.
The tongue is a mass of “voluntary” muscles called intrinsic and extrinsic muscles. The intrinsic muscles allow the tongue to change size and shape quickly. The flexible extrinsic muscles allow the tongue to rapidly change position. The bottom of the tongue is attached to the floor of the mouth, where some of the salivary glands are located.
The tongue is covered with a mucous membrane formed into nipple like elevations called papillae. Papillae roughen the tongue's surface to help it guide foods during chewing and swallowing. Papillae also contain nerves for touch sensations, and most contain taste buds. Examination of the tongue with a mirror reveals a row of v-shaped, rounded, raised areas toward the back of the tongue where the taste buds responding to bitterness are located. In front of this row are tall, thin, cone-shaped raised areas that respond to sweet, sour, or salty substances. At the sides of the tongue are taste buds that react to acidic ingredients.
The tongue has several functions. It is involved in speech, manipulation and positioning of food, tasting, and swallowing. The tongue aids chewing by crushing food against the roof of the mouth (the palate) and by rolling the food between the teeth. Swallowing is accomplished as the tongue presses the food against the palate and pushes it backward into the oropharynx, the entrance into the digestive and respiratory systems.
The smell and touch of food stimulate the salivary glands to secrete saliva. Saliva contains water, salts, enzymes, and mucus-moistens and softens foods for ease in swallowing, and cleanses the teeth and mouth.
Saliva is a critical component of taste function. When we taste, we taste in a solution with saliva acting as a solvent. Chewing and the movement of the tongue, stimulates secretion of saliva, as do the stimuli of thought, sight and smell. Further, a combination of these factors may lead to anticipation of the taste sensation before the product is placed in the mouth. Hence, the well-known expression: ‘It makes my mouth water’.
There are a few minor salivary glands situated around the lips, inside the cheeks, in the palate, and on the tongue. There are also three major pairs of salivary glands. On each side of the face, just in front of the ears, are the parotid glands, the largest of the salivary glands. The duct for each parotid gland, called Stenson's duct, opens into the mouth from each cheek opposite the upper second molar. The parotid glands produce a clear watery secretion that functions as a cleansing, dissolving, and digestive agent. The saliva produced by the parotid gland contains a substance called ptylin, a salivary enzyme that breaks down starch. When a sour food such as a lemon is introduced into the mouth, it stimulates the parotid glands.
The sublingual glands are located in the floor of the mouth, under the tongue. The duct for these glands, called Rivinus' duct, opens into the mouth from the floor of the mouth directly behind the lower front teeth. The saliva secreted by this gland is thicker and ropey compared with the secretion from the parotid. Sublingual-gland secretions serve as lubricating agents; bland substances such as milk and bread stimulate its production.
The submandibular glands are located deeper in the floor of the mouth, under the base of the tongue and more to the side of the lower jaw. These glands secrete a mixed type of saliva that is thin at first and becomes thicker. This secretion is also used for lubricative and digestive purposes.
Hormones produced by the pancreas, testes, ovaries, thyroid and pituitary glands affect the function of the salivary glands. Their nature and quantity of saliva, is a reflex reaction. The presence of soft moist foods on the tongue will stimulate less salivary secretion than does presence of harder textures.
The combination of the senses of taste and smell together with tactile sensations of the sense of touch, provide the flavor of a product. When a food or drink product is placed in the mouth the primary tastes are recognized on the tongue, along with the textural and other associated sensations within the mouth and on the palate. Identity is conferred as a result of the volatile components moving from the back of the mouth into the is olfactory area where the smell mechanism operates.
Up to the present time, though may have been suggested that the shape of a drinking vessel may affect the drinking enjoyment experience, and it has been suggested to form the glass to allow for the sense of smell to be first affected, it has not been known to enhance the taste by stimulating the touch sensations in the user's tongue to thereby prestimulate the senses of taste and touch. The remains a need therefore, for a drinking vessel that is formed in such a manner that the sensory experience is further enhanced.